News Stories

Ackermans Believe Those Who Can — Should Teach

An old saying crops up from time to time that bothers Barbara ('63) and Charles Ackerman: Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.

"We don't need that," says Barbara, a University of Washington College of Education graduate who spent more than a decade as an elementary school teacher and volunteer in the United States and Europe. "Charlie and I believe so strongly that good teachers affect so many lives in a positive way—hundreds if not thousands over a career. We have to have good teachers, and there's one way to do it, and that's to recruit those who might not otherwise be able to do it financially."

The Ackermans recently made a substantial bequest to provide scholarships for students in the Teacher Preparation program at the College of Education. This is the couple's fifth bequest to the College of Education's Barbara Clanton Ackerman and Charles M. Ackerman Endowed Award Fund, which will provide approximately 12 full-tuition scholarships annually in perpetuity.

"If you've got the resources to help, I can't think of anywhere better to put it," Barbara Ackerman says. "It's a lasting gift that does a great good for society."

For more on the College of Education, visit http://education.washington.edu.

Legacy of Giving Leaves Lasting Impression on Students

Harold and Trudy Stack with scholars.

Every summer for more than a decade, Harold ('37) and Trudy ('38) Stack have held a special barbecue at their Seattle waterfront home. The gathering is a chance for the couple to get to know the many University of Washington students who have received fouryear scholarships made possible by the couple's long legacy of giving.

Two Stack scholars have been chosen annually based on need and merit, one each from Roosevelt and Garfield high schools, Harold and Trudy's respective alma maters. Stack scholars regularly turn up on the Dean's List, make the Honor Society, and have majored in fields from nursing to physics.

"I can say with full honesty that the Stacks are some of the warmest and most generous people I have ever met," said David Lao ('07), a Stack scholar who graduated with a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering. "I hope I am someday able to follow their footsteps and start a scholarship of my own so that others will not have to struggle with financing college."

Harold Stack said he has enjoyed gathering with the scholars throughout the years. "At our last picnic we had a couple of students who were married and brought their babies along," he said. "It's been very rewarding to see these students do so well."

Family's Determination Prompts Research Into Rare Condition

Brian Colella (second from left) with UW researchers (from left) Joel Chamberlain, Dan Miller and Brian Kennedy.

When Brian Colella was diagnosed with a form of muscular dystrophy in 2003, his family faced a discouraging realization. Although facioscapulohumeral (FSH) muscular dystrophy is the second most common form of the disease in adults, little research was being done into this untreatable condition, which progressively weakens the muscles of the upper body.

Determined to take action, Terry ('80) and Rick ('73, '76) Colella created the Pacific Northwest Friends of FSH Research to support the study of this complex disease. "This is a neglected, ignored condition," says Terry Colella. "There's a real urgency to this research, and time is not your friend."

Colella says hers is the only organization in the country solely dedicated to raising money for FSH research. Since it began distributing funding in 2005, the organization has fueled three FSH studies involving nine UW researchers, she says. Its most recent research award supports the work of Joel Chamberlain, an assistant professor in the Division of Medical Genetics.

Colella has only praise for the researchers supported by Friends of FSH. "The UW researchers have been fabulous, very open and responsive," says Colella. "They have a real connection. It's not just about the test tubes #&8212; they have patients in mind."

For more on UW Medicine, visit http://uwmedicine.washington.edu.

New Jackson School Chair Will Strengthen UW Human Rights Efforts

Helen Jackson, Photo by: Michael D. Feinstein

Long-time Washington Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson ('35) was well known as a champion for human rights. What is less known is the work of his wife Helen — extending back to the 1970s when she spearheaded efforts to ease the plight of Soviet Jewry, and continuing to the present with her work on the board of the Henry M. Jackson Foundation.

"Senator and Mrs. Jackson championed policies to protect human rights globally. They believed laws exist to restrain the strong and protect the rights of the weak," says Jackson Foundation President William Van Ness Jr. ('66). To honor Helen Jackson's lifetime of work on behalf of human rights, the foundation recently created the Helen H. Jackson Endowed Chair in Human Rights at the UW's Jackson School of International Studies.

Since 1998, the UW has offered an increasingly popular multi-disciplinary minor in human rights, with courses at all three UW campuses. "The Helen Jackson Endowed Chair will spotlight our efforts and provide additional resources for UW faculty and students who care passionately about human rights," says Anand Yang, Jackson School director and holder of the Golub Chair of International Studies. "It will significantly enhance our efforts to prepare students to advocate for people throughout the world."

For more on the Jackson School, visit http://jsis.washington.edu/.

Scholarship Strengthens UW's Ties to Yakama Nation

Philip Rigdon ('96), who directs the Yakama Nation Department of Natural Resources, speaks with students from the UW's Environmental Science and Resource Management degree program during a visit to the Yakama Nation reservation

The Yakama Nation and the UW's College of Forest Resources (CFR) share more than a commitment to natural resource management. CFR faculty bring UW students to the reservation for hands-on lessons about conservation and renewable resource management. Since 1990, more than 10 Yakama Nation members have graduated from the College. To continue to strengthen that connection, the CFR recently created the Yakama Tribal Natural Resources Scholarship to support Yakama Nation youth interested in natural resource management.

"The land they're stewarding and the cultural connection is really impressive," says Thomas Hinckley, the David R. M. Scott Endowed Professor of Forest Ecology and a scholarship donor.

The scholarship committee is considering renaming the award to honor Yakama Nation member Timothy M. Brown ('99, '02), who died this past fall. Brown received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the CFR, was a doctoral candidate in the College of Engineering, and a critical link between the University and the Yakama Nation.

Philip Rigdon ('96), who directs the Yakama Nation Department of Natural Resources, is one of many CFR graduates who have taken forestry lessons learned at the UW and implemented them on the 1,377,034-acre Yakama Nation reservation, a major timber producer in south central Washington state. "We're very proud of our approach to forestry here in Yakama," Rigdon says. "We use the science we learned through school, but incorporate the values of our people."

For more on the Yakama Tribal Natural Resources Scholarship, visit www.cfr.washington.edu/support/index.htm.

Gift Helps High Schoolers Excel in Math, Science and Engineering

MESA students

When it comes to math and science, ninth grade is a tough year. Coursework becomes much more challenging, and the transition to high school seems to hit Seattle's underrepresented minorities especially hard. As few as 20 percent of African- American, Native American, and Latino students finish the year with a grade-point average above 3.0 in those subjects, says Seattle Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) Director Anna-Maria de la Fuente.

MESA, now a statewide program, was created at the UW in 1982 to address a dramatic underrepresentation of minorities and women pursuing studies and careers in math, science and engineering. Seattle MESA, hosted by the College of Engineering, has served thousands of students with programs to encourage competence and confidence in these areas. A generous two-year grant from the Washington Women's Foundation will help MESA continue its after-school and summer engineering activities, tutoring and pre-college advising for 100 students at five Seattle high schools. It also will allow MESA to add Saturday engineering activities.

"We're big fans of MESA," says Washington Women's Foundation Senior Program Manager Marion DeForest. She cites MESA's impressive results, including more than doubling the number of students who earned a 3.0 or above grade point average in key courses.

For more on Seattle MESA, visit www.seattlemesa.org.

Return to Spring 2008 Campaign Newsletter